Elspeth G. Bobbs

GardenerSanta Fe, NM

Britain

Expert

Listen to Elspeth G. Bobbs’s Oral History on Voices of the Manhattan Project

Elspeth G. Bobbs was born in 1920 in Devonshire County, England. During World War II she came to the United States with her parents. Shortly after, she moved to Santa Fe for work. Here she met and befriended Joseph Rotblat, a Polish physicist who was part of the British Mission at Los Alamos.

In Santa Fe, she met her husband, Howard Bobbs. In 1955, they opened a bookstore, called “The Book Specialist,” and in 1967 they purchased four acres of land, and named their new estate: Querencia, meaning “The Beloved Place.”

Later in life Elspeth acquired gardening as a hobby, and today “The Beloved Place” is her popular and well maintained garden. In 1984, Elspeth was named a Santa Fe Living Treasure, and in 1999 she was named New Mexico’s Philanthropist of the Year.

More information on Elspeth and photographs of the garden can be found here.

Elspeth G. Bobbs’s Timeline

1955 Bobbs opened the “The Book Specialist.

1984 Bobbs was named a Santa Fe Living Treasure.

1999 Bobbs was named New Mexico’s Philanthropist of the Year.

1920 Born in England.

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